Cartagena, Colombia

~Brie

We arrived in Colombia two days after Claude gave us the information we'd waited months to hear... for Aiden he'd waited ten years.

The day agreed upon to go look for the surrogate became suddenly cloudy.

“C'mon it's this way” Aiden's private detective, Travis Freeman said as he led us down a soggy white-washed alley in the drizzle.

I looked up at Aiden. His nervousness was evident.

Or was it anger?

Anyway, that's not what bothered me. It was how pale he looked the moment we got to Colombia, and now there were dark signs of his sleeplessness beneath his eyes.

The flowers he'd gotten seemed unnecessary to me. But I wasn't going to tell him that. It was a big day for him so whatever he needed to do to feel okay, I was going to support him.

“Arturo?” Travis asked the man who had his back to us.

“Are you the people who called?” Arturo asked, tossing his cigarette away.

“Yes. Detective Travis Freeman and these are my clients, Aiden and Breanna.”

“Hi Arturo, nice to meet you” Aiden and I took turns shaking his hands.

“Shall we?” the man asked. “I hear a storm's coming and I gotta get my kid from the sitter so I don't get charged overtime.”

“Yes, please. After you.”

We stepped out of the alley, following Arturo's lead, and walked about a hundred yards along a small road under the townsfolk’s stare. The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the wasteland, a sort of compact Main Street ministering to it and contiguous to absolutely nothing.

One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant approached by a trail of ashes. The third was a garage and we followed Arturo inside.

The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner. It had occurred to me that this shadow of a garage must be a blind and that sumptuous and romantic apartments were concealed overhead when a man appeared through the door of an office, wiping his hands on a piece of rag.

He was a blonde, spiritless-looking, and faintly handsome man. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.

“Hello, Sergio, old man,” said Arturo, slapping him jovially on the shoulder. “How’s business?”

“I can’t complain,” answered Sergio unconvincingly.

“When are you going to sell me that car huh?”

“Next week; I’ve got my man working on it now.”

“Works pretty slow, doesn’t he?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Sergio replied a bit coldly. “And if you feel that way about it, maybe I’d better sell it somewhere else after all.”

“Hey, hey, I don’t mean that,” Arturo said quickly with a short laugh. “Anyway, that's not why I'm here. This is Travis, he's a detective. And these are the people he's representing, right?” Arturo looked at Travis.

“Yes, my clients.”

Arturo turned back to Sergio.

“They're looking for Gabby.”

Sergio was quiet as he watched Aiden and I.

“What for?”

“My clients and I need to ask her a few questions about an agreement she had with them ten years ago.”

Sergio looked from me to Aiden.

“Hey, I know you. You're the guy from that tech company in New York. I saw you on the news with the other guy in cuffs” Sergio said. “Is Gabby in trouble?”

“Not if you tell us where she is, sir. I really need to speak to her” Aiden replied.

“Well alright then. Okay. I'll just—”

His voice faded off and we glanced around the garage. Then we heard footsteps on a stairs and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door.

She was almost as old as Sergio and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering.

She smiled slowly as she walked up to Sergio. Then grinned at Arturo before shaking hands with him.

“How's the little guy, Arturo?”

“Loud” he chuckled his reply.

When the woman spotted the rest of us, she wet her lips and without turning around spoke to Serigo in a soft voice, “Who are these people?”

Sergio cleared his throat.

“Everyone, this is my wife, Paola. Cariño these people—”

“You're the man from the news!” Paola cut her husband off with a loud gasp as soon as her glasses were on her face.

“They're here to see Gabby” Sergio finished.

The woman frowned.

“What do you want from her?”

“Ma'am, we just want to talk about something important with her,” Aiden said, “Could you please tell us where she is?”

“I'm right here” a voice broke from the entrance.

We turned and from how tense Aiden's body got, it had to be her.

Yes, I'd seen the photos Aiden had of her. But the person standing before us now looked older... well, of course, it'd been ten years.

Her hair was the same in the photos though; long, brown, and parted in the middle to let it flow down her shoulders in waves. She had bright blue eyes and wore a baby pink colored muslin dress that stretched tight over her rather wide hips.

“I hear tourists have been going around looking for me” she smiled, breezing fully into the garage to hug the old couple.

“Well since my job here is done, I'm going to go get my kid before the storm. Nice doing business with you” Arturo tipped his hat at us and walked away.

“So, how may I help you?” Gabriella asked.

“Ms. James, do you think we could talk... somewhere private?” Travis asked as Aiden didn't say a word.

“Sure. We can talk at my place” she smiled. “C'mon.”

Did she not recognize Aiden?

Or was she just that good at pretending because her body language didn't depict that of someone who could be charged with kidnapping when apprehended?

I squeezed Aiden's hand as Travis thanked them and we followed the surrogate out of the garage.

At a newsstand, she bought a copy of a magazine and, in the station drug store, some cold cream and a small flask of perfume.

Upstairs, in the solemn echoing drive she let four taxi cabs drive away before she selected a new one, a lavender-colored one with grey upholstery, and in this, all four of us slid out from the mass of the station into the now glowing sunshine although it was still drizzling.

We drove over to her apartment in heavy silence, but Gabriella seemed oblivious to it. The cab finally stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment houses. Throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood, Gabriella led us in.

Her apartment was on the top floor— a small living room, a small dining room, a small bedroom, and a bath. A painting of a hen sitting on a blurred rock hangs in the living room.

“Please, have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?” she asked.

“No thank you” I replied, looking at Aiden whose eyes were on the flowers he was holding.

I gave him a small nudge and he blinked, cleared his throat, and held out the flowers to Gabriella.

“We err... got these for you,” he said.

Gabriella smiled.

“Ow thank you. I don't remember the last time anyone got me flowers” she sniffed it. “Lemme just put these in water. I'll be right back.”

Aiden's shoulders visibly sagged and Travis patted him on his back. We sat and waited for Gabriella to come back.

“So, what can I help you with?” she asked as she walked in and took a seat opposite the three of us.

“I need you to tell me where the child is” Aiden let out, making all eyes turn to him.

“Excuse me?”

“Tell me where my child is Gabriella. This has gone on for too long now.”

I squeezed Aiden's arm, giving him a pleading look to calm down.

“I'm sorry... what is this conversation about?” Gabriella asked.

“The agreement you signed with my client and his late wife ten years ago,” Vincent said, slapping a copy of the contract on the coffee table in front of her.

Her slender fingers picked up the document and she scanned through it.

“I'm sorry, I don't recognize any of this,” she said.

I gripped Aiden's arm tighter when he attempted to get up.

“Wait, it has my signature” Gabriella frowned when she flipped some more. “But I don't remember signing any of this.”

“Ms. James, I'd advise you to cooperate with us. Because you're looking at twenty years in prison for federal kidnapping when we press charges.”

“Press charges? What are you talking about?” she asked, getting angry. “I haven't kidnapped anyone.”

“Gabriella, I understand where you're coming from okay?” I sat up, stretching my hand towards her as if to ask her to calm down. “I know the child holds a biological part of you but you taking the child away wasn't a part of the agreement. Your actions might have seemed harmless then but Gabby... you stole ten years from Aiden. I understand if you were scared, but I'm sure Aiden would have allowed you to see them on birthdays or the holidays. And we don't have to bring the law into this if... and I'm begging you... from one mother to another... please, please give us the child.”

She frowned deeply and stood up.

“Okay, you people need to leave or I will call the cops” she threatened.

“Not without my child” Aiden frowned back, getting up too.

“What child? What are you people talking about?!” she exclaimed. “You need to leave okay? I'm not interested in whatever it is you're here for—”

“Well, I am, Gabby!” Aiden shouted, startling me. “I am. And if you refuse to cooperate I will send a thousand lawsuits down your throat and you're going to be sorry you ever lived.”

Her mouth dropped, clearly stunned at the ferocity the handsome man with the British accent could display.

“Okay, everyone calm down” Vincent held his hands out. “Aiden, lawsuits will have to wait because she's going to cooperate, isn't that right, Ms. James?” he looked to Gabriella.

She sank into the couch and picked the document back up.

“Hey, it's okay” I whispered to Aiden when he dropped his glare and sat back down.

He let out a long deep breath through his nose and reluctantly nodded.

“Look,” Gabriella sighed, “I don't know how my signature got here, okay? I have never seen this document before and I don't have your kid.”

Aiden's jaw ticked.

“You don't remember signing this?” Travis asked.

“No, I don't. Today is the first time I've seen this contract.”

“But yet it has your signature” Aiden deadpanned.

“I don't know how my signature got there” she frowned.

“Try and remember, Ms. James,” Travis said. “Ten years ago in London... Winchester to be precise. You agreed to be a surrogate for this man and his late wife.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Gabriella shot back up. “A surrogate? I would never agree to be a surrogate and I've never been to London!”

“Well, you were, Gabriella!” Aiden exclaimed. “And you signed this document to be an egg donor and a surrogate for Jew and me. We started the process. I saw the multiple pregnancy test reports Doctor Colby gave me. You started to show and after you got the money, you disappeared with my child!”

Gabriella's frown dropped.

“I'm sorry, did you just say Doctor Colby?” her voice came out in almost a whisper.

“You heard me” Aiden frowned.

She let out a shaky breath and nodded.

“Okay, I'm going to need you to calm down and listen to me, okay?” she said calmly, sitting back down.

I glanced at Travis.

“I'm Gabriella James.”

Yeah, we got that much.

“But the person who signed this, agreeing to be an egg donor and your surrogate, isn't me. Yes it's my signature on this document, but I didn't sign it” She leaned back onto the couch, “My sister did.”

Oh, she's seriously going to play the twin sister card?

“Nice try, Gabriella” Aiden scoffed. “Now give me my child.”

“I'm not lying okay?” She stood up, moving to the corner of the room to bring out an album with a floral fabric covering.

She flipped through and yanked out a couple of photos which she slapped on the coffee table.

“There. See?”

And she wasn't lying. There were two of her... identical like she'd been photocopied. And I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't one of those very identical twins.

“That's not...” Aiden paused to shake his head, throwing one of the pictures he'd picked up back onto the table.

Gabriella took out another picture... this one of an elderly man, and held it out to Aiden.

“This is the doctor who handled the whole process, right?”

Aiden paled and the silence dragged on.

“Aiden?” I whispered.

He slowly nodded.

“How do you have Doctor Colby's picture?” Travis asked.

Gabriella sighed.

“His name isn't Doctor Colby like he told you,” she said. “It's Rudolph.”

Aiden looked up from the picture.

“Rudolph James... and he's my dad.”

“Your dad?” I asked, getting Gabriella to nod.

She sat back down, putting the album down, and met Aiden's eye.

“The girl you met ten years ago... she's my sister, Veronica. We grew up in Portland... raised by our dad... he was a doctor... or reproductive surgeon as he put it. However, he lost his medical license for practicing unauthorized surgeries. He still did it anyway and when a man whose wife nearly died threatened to get him arrested, we had to leave.”

Aiden's mouth pressed into a thin line.

“I didn't want any part of what he had going on. I wanted to go to school and do something better with my life. So I left home. I asked my sister to come with me, but she's always been our dad's favorite. She tried to play the 'after everything he's done for us' card on me but I wasn't buying it.”

Her eyes flashed around her briefly before falling on Aiden again.

“I don't have your kid, Aiden.”

“It's your signature Ms. James” Travis spoke.

“Veronica forged it. When we were younger she always did that.”

“Then tell us where your sister is, please” I begged.

She shrugged.

“I don't know where she is, ma'am. We don't speak.”

“You don't understand” I shifted forward, “She has Aiden's child. It's been ten years and this is the closest he's ever gotten to finding her. We need to see your sister, Gabriella, please. We need to get the child. Ten years without their father... you have to help us.”

Gabriella let out a little humorless laugh and shook her head.

“She didn't tell you did she?”

“Tell him what?” I asked, looking between her and Aiden.

Gabriel leaned forward, her expression regretful.

“Aiden... there was a tubal ligation when we turned eighteen. I can't have kids.”

I held my breath.

“What?” Aiden frowned.

Gabriella nodded.

“I think they lied to you. I'm very sorry.”

“No” Aiden laughed, “That's not true.”

“Yes it is and I'm truly sorry, Aiden.”

“Wait, wait” I spoke up. “What if she had the process reversed? You can do that right?” I looked at Aiden and then back at her. “She could have had the tubal ligation reversed and gotten—”

“Oh no, no” Gabriella let out. “I mean yes, it's possible to have it reversed but I got the tubal ligation” she fidgeted uncomfortably, “Veronica got her whole uterus removed.”

My stomach churned and invisible vomit rushed up my throat.

“No” Aiden let out brokenly.

Gabriella pursed her lips.

“I'm sorry. I don't know where my sister or father are. But I promise I'll let you know when I do.”

“It's not true” Aiden shook his head.

“I...” Gabriella took in a deep breath, “I can show you the consent form we both signed. I have hers—”

“I saw the blood test” Aiden cut her off furiously. “I held the blood test results that were positive for pregnancy in my hands!”

“He faked it,” she said, no hint of surprise in her tone. “Our dad is that good. He used to fake sick reports for us all the time when we were younger to get us out of gym class, those expected surprise pop quizzes in calculus class... anytime we felt like we didn't want to take responsibility for, Daddy dearest was there to bend it to our will.”

I felt sick immediately.

So after all this time? After all these years? After everything Aiden's been through? It's been all for nothing?

There was no child.

I looked at Aiden who looked like he'd been hit by a bus... over, and over, and over again.

Gabriella rubbed her arms, a slight shiver in her tone as she spoke.

“I'm truly sorry Aiden. But I'm sterile, and my sister can't get pregnant because she has no womb.”

Thank you so much for reading! ✨